Chapter 158: The Floating Life Mirror
This novel is translated and hosted only on BCatranslation
“Cui Jue…”
“Senior Brother, just wait a few more days for me. Once I’m better, we’ll leave together, okay?”
“…Alright.”
Fang Cheng Lang reluctantly agreed to Cui Jue’s request.
He closed the door and stood outside, gazing at the empty courtyard. It felt like he was at a crossroads, unsure of which direction to take.
Originally, all he wanted was to apologize to Yu Zhao, to gain her forgiveness, and then bring her back to Lone Moon Peak. But things hadn’t gone as planned. Not only had he failed to make amends with Yu Zhao, but he had also unintentionally caused Cui Jue, a once-promising alchemist, to lose his ability to make elixirs, reducing him to an ordinary person.
What was he even doing?
…
In Alchemy Room No. 39, Yu Zhao opened her eyes, determination flickering within them.
“Energy is stable; it’s time for the next step.”
Instead of pulling out the materials she needed for refining, Yu Zhao took out a piece of transparent jade containing a drop of milky white liquid. This was the Millennium Jade Essence, a rare treasure given to her by the old siren, capable of greatly enhancing one’s cultivation.
To ensure her refining process went smoothly, she decided to boost her cultivation first.
She enveloped the Millennium Jade Essence with her spiritual energy, and soon, the transparent jade surrounding the essence began to melt away like snow under the sun. A thick wave of spiritual energy surged toward her.
Carefully, Yu Zhao ingested the Millennium Jade Essence.
Boom!
A dense flow of spiritual energy rushed into her body like a raging tide. Her golden core spun rapidly in her dantian, absorbing the energy at an incredible pace. Without needing to meditate, her cultivation quickly advanced from the early stage of the Golden Core Realm to the middle stage.
However, her cultivation continued to rise uncontrollably, and the spiritual energy began to overwhelm her meridians. It felt like her body might burst.
Yu Zhao panicked. She hadn’t expected a single drop of Millennium Jade Essence to be this powerful. If she didn’t find a way to release some of this energy, her body would suffer severe damage from the overload.
Desperate, she made a bold decision.
With a look of resolve, Yu Zhao laid out all the refining materials she had prepared in front of her and placed her right hand on the formation controlling the fire veins. She was going to refine her artifact ahead of schedule!
This was her first time refining an artifact, so it was natural to feel nervous. However, when she inherited the memories of Master Bright Moon, she had witnessed her master refining artifacts many times. Plus, the artifact she intended to craft wasn’t particularly complex, giving her confidence to succeed on her first attempt.
Soon, a pale blue flame danced before Yu Zhao. She took a deep breath and placed the first refining material into the fire.
A few moments later, the material exploded into ash, vanishing into the air.
“Hiss…” Yu Zhao sucked in a breath, startled at how easily the first material had failed.
Luckily, the initial materials she used were common in the cultivation world, and she had prepared dozens of them. However, this failure reminded her that refining wasn’t as simple as she had imagined, especially when it came to controlling the heat.
Yu Zhao ignored the ever-increasing spiritual energy within her, her mind racing with thoughts. How could she precisely control the fire?
Relying on experience to judge the heat wouldn’t work. But what if she used her spirit sense…
With this new idea, Yu Zhao immediately tried it out. She carefully extended her spirit sense toward the flame and found that it wasn’t repelled. Encouraged, she gradually merged her spirit sense with the fire. Apart from an initial feeling of heat, there was no discomfort.
It was possible!
Without hesitation, Yu Zhao placed a second batch of refining material into the fire. Under the observation of her spirit sense, as soon as the material began to melt, she controlled the fire’s temperature to keep it stable.
Soon, the material melted into a small golden orb.
Success!
Yu Zhao was overjoyed and quickly added the next material, then the third, and the fourth…
More and more refining materials were added to the flame, gradually fusing together.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but eventually, a pool of black-gold liquid was slowly flowing within the fire.
At this point, only three refining materials remained: True Water, Celestial Orchid, and Magnetic Iron, which was specifically used to counteract metal and stone-based artifacts.
“Now for the second step: shaping.”
Yu Zhao kept her right hand on the formation controlling the fire veins while her left hand guided her spiritual energy, molding the liquid in the flames. Only then did she realize how much she cared about the appearance of her artifact.
Over and over, the liquid took shape, only to be reset by her dissatisfaction. She simply couldn’t stand the thought of her life-bound artifact being unattractive.
Finally, after countless attempts, she was satisfied.
In the flames before her was an eight-petal flower-shaped object. The inner ring was adorned with a pattern of phoenixes and floral vines, with a hollow center, all in a black-gold hue. While the design wasn’t particularly striking, it had an odd charm.
However, it was still only a half-finished product.
Yu Zhao glanced at the three remaining refining materials and, without hesitation, added them to the flame. The Celestial Orchid turned into a mist the moment it touched the fire, while the True Water and Magnetic Iron seemed to act with intention, absorbing the mist and then merging with the black-gold artifact.
Beads of sweat started forming on Yu Zhao’s forehead, trickling down as she focused intensely on the flames. This was the most critical step: final shaping.
Under the intense heat, the True Water and Magnetic Iron began to melt, merging with the inner edge of the bronze-like artifact. From the front, the black magnet stone formed a mirror-like surface, perfectly aligning with the black-gold artifact to create a complete mirror. From the back, the True Water formed a circular liquid that fit precisely in the center, resembling a water mirror set within the artifact.
One side was dark, the other light—one symbolizing evil, the other good.
As the black-gold water mirror fully formed, Yu Zhao felt a subtle connection with it.
She smiled softly. “From now on, your name will be the Floating Life Mirror.”
The Floating Life Mirror trembled slightly, sending a wave of joy back to Yu Zhao. She lifted her right hand, extinguishing the flames, and the Floating Life Mirror automatically settled into her palm. Gently, she traced the edges of the mirror with her fingertip, a mix of contentment and happiness in her eyes.
After careful planning, she finally had her own personally crafted life-bound artifact.
She imprinted her spirit sense onto the Floating Life Mirror, playing with it fondly for a while before remembering to check on her own condition.
What she saw left her shocked.
During the refining process, she had broken through another level, reaching the late stage of the Golden Core Realm.
In less than three years, she had gone from the late Foundation Establishment stage to breaking through three levels. If word of this got out, it would surely drop many jaws.
This novel is translated and hosted only on BCatranslation
But only Yu Zhao knew how hard-earned this success was.
Her rapid breakthroughs weren’t just due to unexpected opportunities; they were also the result of her accumulated efforts from her previous life.
In her past life, she was physically limited, and no matter how hard she worked, she couldn’t achieve corresponding results.
Now, all that hard work had paid off, bearing fruit in this life.
With her life-bound artifact complete, it was time for her to return to the Five Elements Sect and prepare for the upcoming Great Competition in the cultivation world.